"It's just so incredibly important to try and end the fragmentation of the Windows install base.

"And so we think that every machine that's capable of running Windows 10, we should be doing everything we possibly can to get people to move to Windows 10.

"We do worry when people are running an operating system that's 10 years old that the next printer they buy isn’t going to work well, or they buy a new game, they buy Fallout 4, a very popular game, and it doesn’t work on a bunch of older machine.

"As we're pushing our hardware partners to build great new stuff that takes advantage of Windows 10, that obviously makes the old stuff really bad, and not to mention viruses and security problems.

"So we really are trying to push people to get to Windows 10."

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More than 55 per cent of the world's computers currently run on Windows 7

But the Redmond technology firm has already confirmed it will continue to support Windows 7 until 2020, which means the operating system will remain up-to-date with the latest security patches.

As a result, the "viruses and security problems" highlighted by Mr Capossela will not become an issue until 2020.

His example of Fallout 4 not running on Windows 7 machines is also not true. The blockbuster video game is fully compatible with Windows 7 and Windows 8.

If you're having issues getting this game to load, you need to update the components in your PC – not your operating system.

Microsoft has previously announced it would like one billion devices to run on Windows 10 within two to three years of its release.

The US technology firm released its new operating system – Windows 10 – back in July.

The redesigned operating system was the first to unite all Windows-powered devices – from sprawling desktop set-ups to svelte smartphones, tablets, Raspberry Pis and even the firm's own Xbox One video game console.

Threshold – dubbed version 1511 – brought a number of long-awaited features to Windows 10, including improved browsing in Microsoft Edge, better multi-tasking for desktop users and security and stability tweaks, too.